A Call to Gathering for Christian ATS'ers

reply to post by MarioOnTheFly


Considering that the poster was only 11 years old at the time, it probably means that the poster met with the elderly woman in secret without his parent's permission. We shall see.

reply to post by Deetermined


well...there was a second poster...also claiming secret study...the first one stated "unauthorized".

So is there some kind of...permission...one needs to ask to study the Bible ?

I want to state that even though I consider myself more of an atheist than anything...I consider the Bible a very interesting read.

reply to post by MarioOnTheFly


Once again, it appears to have been a group of 9 - 12 year olds having a late night Bible study at summer camp after everyone else went to bed.

Originally posted by ProfessorChaos
I have noticed some of you prowling these forums and I was curious to know how it was that you found Christ?

There's been an awful lot of anti-Christian threads on this site (especially lately), and it's been more than a little disheartening, so I thought it might be a good idea for Christian ATS'ers to share their conversion experiences with each other.

It would be appreciated if non believers refrained from making attacks on the Christian faith in this thread, since there's plenty of other places on ATS to vent your feelings about Christianity, and this thread has been made for the sharing of testimony and fellowship, so please be respectful.

Let's also be mindful that there are differences between denominations, and there's no need of theological debates here either.

Share your testimony here, and edify each other.

I came to know God after I was praying one day and I realized I was talking to myself. So I looked in the mirror and said, thanks me!

My calling to become a servant of God started very unexpectedly, much like Apsotle Paul's did. Very positive and honored to work for the light and our almight God and Father. Fellow brothers and sisters continue on the path should you ever been or know to be called. God bless

reply to post by MrInquisitive


I made that comment. For the record, it's the truth. I never claimed I was a good Christian, because I am not. The truth is, if someone did that to my little girl I would lose it. I was just being honest. But you see, people who hate Christianity like to use the imperfect nature of Christians against them. If I was perfect, I wouldn't need God's grace and Christ's salvation, now would I?

Lets put it this way. According to the Gnostics there are secrets in old texts. And I ran across one in the bible. So I worked on figuring it out. And took it too far. But in return I received one heck of a supernatural experience.

Lets just say I got to see a tutorial on how the bible works. And I got to hear the rushing of the wind.

About time we had a thread like this on here!
Well I grew up in a baptist household. My wife and I are both believers. Lately though we have decided to reject the church as it pertains to the 4 walls. We are starting to shun the idea that Jesus intended for us to passively sit in a chair and hear a watered down teaching, whilst having extremely loud blaring music and blinding lights during worship.
We are trying to hit the "reset" button on our faith. We think of ourselves as followers of "The Way" (as it was known during the early Church vs. Christian, which was actually derogatory.) It is hard to be the hands and feet while sitting on your butt listening to "milk." We've taken to having Bible studies together instead of attending a church, and we want to volunteer with homeless shelters and put our money towards feeding some local homeless people. Jesus told us to "go," not stay. being a believer is supposed to be exciting, not boring. It's not supposed to be comfortable. Anyway, that's where we are in our faith.

ntech, oh do tell! Would love to know details!

Personally I was born into the Greek Orthodox faith.
My culture is tightly interwoven with my faith (just like Catholicism is with Italians, so is Orthodoxy with Greeks).
I went to Sunday mass regularly, was an altar-boy, as the years progressed I was a Sunday School student, and later a Sunday School teacher. However, I am definitely NOT a text-book Christian. I have numerous flaws that I struggle with, and I have deep-rooted concerns about the religion I am a member of. I try to remember though, that religion is man's attempt at organizing faith, and naturally is flawed itself.
Reading your messages, I am amazed at how many different ways your lives have been touched (many in extreme supernatural ways).
I have never had such an experience, but I did experience my own little private miracles (my kids).
I'm sorry I have no riveting tale to tell, from my perspective the Lord is a silent and protective entity, that ensures things in my life are the way they should be (whether I agree with Him or not) and so I experience my own peace of mind that someone is watching over me.

I was born and raised heathen no church life at all. On August 10th 1986 at the age of 32 I was convicted of my sinful life while listening to a missionary who had spent his life in the Marshal islands. Upon surrendering to Christ in a broom closet that same day I was delivered from close to 20 years of drug and alcohol abuse. I was selling coke that was so pure that if you freebased a gram you got about 80% back. I use to shoot up and one time I did a dimes worth and has a seizure. Friends of mine who was doing it to had to go to treatment to get clean it was that pure. Since that day I have not had any desire to drink or drug I had no withdrawals no DT’s.

Carl Jung felt very strongly that the only way to throw off the mass-man and to enter the fray with one's entire being, is to have a working theological framework.

Given how relatively snide, mean spirited and presumptuously ignorant ie: small minded, and often rude, many atheists seem to be, I think this is a valid statement.

That said, few self-professed Christians are fully self-expressed, presuming, wrongly, that the work of the "good Christian" is to try to be good in order not to be bad.

It's very funny - that's the place that I always end up at when seriously contemplating these things.

So i've come to the conclusion and experience, that the absolute spiritual and psychological genius of the person of Jesus leads to immense humor of the very best kind as the humor of true understanding and thus the real and authentic knowledge of personal experience, which of course is at the expense of all our prior ignorance and sinful nature which in the space of absolute forgiveness, is also humorous, however embarrassing it might be to acknowledge.

The fear of the truth of Christianity, by both Christians and non alike has to do I think with this notion of humor, whereby good humor has great malice towards ignorance and folly, so our reaction tends to be, for the non-Christian a type of seething if not snarling contemptuous bias, or for the Christian, shame and the sense of "I'm not worthy!"

reply to post by DeadSeraph


I do believe in our Lord but must agree with you as I also see myself as not a perfect christian and would most likely do the same as you in that circumstance or to defend any child from such a man but remember the passage that say's forgive those whom do wrong and the other Vengeance belongs to the Lord, If we taint our forgiveness by making it an act of punishment then that likely defeats the objective but by forgiving we are released from the chains of hate though sometimes it is the hardest of all things to do - they were just goading you though.

Originally posted by LABTECH767
reply to post by DeadSeraph

 

I do believe in our Lord but must agree with you as I also see myself as not a perfect christian and would most likely do the same as you in that circumstance or to defend any child from such a man but remember the passage that say's forgive those whom do wrong to you and god shall pour hot coals on there head and the other Vengeance belongs to the Lord, If we taint our forgiveness by making it an act of punishment then that likely defeats the objective but by forgiving we are released from the chains of hate though sometimes it is the hardest of all things to do - they were just goading you though.

Believe me I understand the virtues of forgiveness. I have been in many situations in my life where I needed the forgiveness of others. Sometimes I was blessed with it, other times I was not. I too have found myself in difficult situations where I needed to overcome some wrong that was visited on me by another and struggled to forgive that person. I truly do believe in it. But in a situation like that (not to stray off topic) I would completely lose it. It would be interesting to perhaps discuss such things in another thread. Does Christianity prohibit the use of force at all times, regardless of the circumstances? Is it permissible in defense of a child? A good discussion for another thread, perhaps

Back on topic: Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has contributed in the spirit of the OP. I've enjoyed reading your experiences (as I'm sure others have) and it is nice to see that despite the efforts of certain individuals here to derail the thread, you had the courage to share your experiences anyways.

Originally posted by Druscilla
I've made a few changes to the OP, and think it reads better in the following manner. After all, regardless of what faith in imaginary super beings one has, it all boils down to faith.

I have noticed some of you prowling these forums and I was curious to know how it was that you found Odin, Krishna, Buddha, Allah, Satan, Benevolent Alien Light Beings, or even Atheism?

There's been an awful lot of anti-belief threads/comments on this site (especially lately), and it's been more than a little disheartening, so I thought it might be a good idea for ATS'ers of any and all beliefs to share their conversion experiences with each other.

It would be appreciated if opposing believers refrained from making attacks on thefaiths, or ideals in this thread, since there's plenty of other places on ATS to vent your feelings aboutopposing faiths or ideals, and this thread has been made for the sharing of testimony and fellowship, so please be respectful.

Let's also be mindful that there are differences between all faiths, and there's no need of theological debates here either.

Share your testimony here, and edify each other.

edit on 25-8-2013 by Druscilla because: (no reason given)

See there you go the OP asked for Christians to respond and like a good liberal you felt compeled to include everyone when everyone was not invited to the party. Please comply to the OP's request.

Originally posted by guitarplayer

See there you go the OP asked for Christians to respond and like a good liberal you felt compeled to include everyone when everyone was not invited to the party. Please comply to the OP's request.

But ironically, and tragically, isn't that the dichotomy and the reason that we're so resented and the truths we wish to share, so reviled, this notion that it's an exclusive club, with outsiders not only excluded, but condemned even to eternal damnation?

The Christian party is a wedding celebration involving the communion and consummation of the Spirit and the Bride as an all-inclusive all-or-nothing proposition and invitation for which ALL are invited, where the first to refuse the invitation are those who's preoccupations and attachments prevent their realization or appropriation of the Great Gift, causing the invitation to go out to those who are more open-minded and willing and then with room to spare, to those with nothing to lose and everything to gain whereby it may be said that those who've been forgiven more, love more.

The narrow minded and ignorant presumption of that poster, and their no so veiled jab, simply reveals more about their own character, than anything to do with Christianity, just like how everything we say and do speaks clearly about who we are and how our heart works.

That said, that Christendom has done such a very poor job representing the invitation of all ages as an exclusive proposition of "believe and receive, or, go to hell" is it any wonder that there's all this backlash? From the outside looking in, it doesn't appear all that inviting and that, my friends is a crying shame, perhaps much worse than barbs tossed our way by atheist flag waving (what a strange concept) sycophantic naysayers, who ought to be smart enough to see and recognize how loathsome their behavior really is, by their own words and demeanor.

We all still have so much work to do, to really appropriate what is being offered to us by God in Christ and in really getting it and taking it all in, overflowing in love and forgiveness even to the degree that "outsiders" might become attracted to us as a pearl in formation fit to adorn the city gate.

There is nothing repelling about the the love of God made known and transparent through the person of Jesus Christ who's invitation extends itself in the most unlikely and unexpected, directions.

Of course it's obvious why the OP made the appeal they did, but at another level this whole exclusive club stuff isn't really in congruent alignment with the commission we've been given, to share and preach the Good News of the Gospel to the rest of the world, one person at a time, and I just don't see how it could be construed as a loving and open invitation to say to someone that if they do NOT accept it, they and everyone else on the "outside" will be condemned to hellfire and damnation.

Jesus is for all people and everyone in their heart of hearts is seeking him, who is also the very best of the best of who they really are and are meant to be and to become as children of a loving God.

So I can't condemn them or anyone, and humbly ask that they might reconsider the invitation that's being offered as a free gift that none of us are "worthy" to receive but that is offered to us anyway in spite of ourselves, and that's FUNNY! imho.

Originally posted by winofiend
I was born into christ. Baptised, had first communion, all that stuff.

Yet I've never seen jesus. Nor any of the entities described. In fact, it would be fair to say that all you can do is imagine them. With your brain.

Which, makes them... imaginary. Or maybe I'm just an unworthy sinner who does not get miracles and visions. Oh why has god so forsaken me?

Ahh religious school was simply a great way for evil adults to torture innocent children...

I hate to tell you this but God does not have any grandchildren. You can not be born into Christ one must come to Christ out of a conviction of sin and what can be done about that sin.

reply to post by guitarplayer


No not totally correct, god has room for all his children.
Acts 16:31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
www.higherpraise.com...

Pray for your family and god may grant that his gift of faith may enter into there heart's also, also by being a christian in your house you set an example.

reply to post by guitarplayer

It's not just about sin but about love and friendship and an authentic model of leadership and a safe "attachment" (there's always an attachment to an outcome) who is absolutely trustworthy. Sin and evil needn't be the sole motivating factor in bringing people into the love of God in Jesus Christ - how sad would that be is that's the ONLY thing it's about..? Again there's that cutting humor!

Originally posted by NewAgeMan

Originally posted by guitarplayer

edit on 26-8-2013 by guitarplayer because: (no reason given)

edit on 26-8-2013 by guitarplayer because: My remarks were pulling the thread off topic which I apoligize for that fact.

reply to post by guitarplayer

I am a brother in Christ, even the Bride (no matter how imperfect).

Now you're casting me out. Talk about irony.

I used Carl Jung as an appeal to what makes sense and without which the human being is lost, or at best just another ignorant Joe sixpack. I was encouraging an inquiry free from contempt prior to investigation.

There is no better "landing strip" than Christ, and all roads do lead to Him, by whatever path. Jesus also summed up Buddhism and Hinduism (Atma and Brahma are one) Taoism even Greek thought. It's all in him. All the treasure is in Christ and the treasure is his love.

He is the unparalleled, all-inclusive, cosmological Christ.

So do not send me away from you as a brother in Christ for teaching and preaching the all-inclusive Christ who is the love of God for ALL his children, the whole world over.

Our position is not like Islam which requires absolute submission. There's a flaw in Christendom, you know it, I know it, and everyone on the outside sures knows it very well. I don't think it should stand when it's based on a simple misunderstanding and misconception rooted in doctrine and dogma.

Our presentation and representation of Christianity to the world has been really bad and is getting worse.

It's not right that the love of God is being poorly represented by a bunch of bad salemen, and I'm just trying to do my part to show that Christianity needn't be conflated with what might be called "Churchianity".